Diaries coming home

It has been 44 years and a mammoth public fight to see the return of New Zealand World War I memorabilia from the United Kingdom but just three original diaries will return.

Families have been fighting to have precious diaries and photos of soldiers who fought at Gallipoli and which are stored at Leeds University returned to the country.

On Wednesday, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage confirmed three of the diaries held in the Liddle Collection would be returned before the end of the year.

It is welcome news for the families of Cyril James Claridge, Hartley Valentine Palmer and Clifford James Walsh.

Digitised copies of all original New Zealand materials will also be given to the library.

Nelson’s Margaret Kearns has battled for the return of Hartley Palmer’s diary for more than 40 years.

While there was cause for celebration, she said, it was a shame the repatriation did not extend to the entire collection.

Manatu¯ Taonga chief historian Neill Atkinson said investigations into the provenance of all 15 of the World War I diaries meant three would be returned and held at the Alexander Turnbull Library.

‘‘While the removal of this material did not breach any cultural heritage legislation at the time, some veterans and their family members have subsequently questioned how Peter Liddle obtained it.’’

Atkinson said it would significantly add to the country’s World War I collection.

Liddle visited New Zealand in 1974 to interview veterans and add to his First and Second World War collection which is now held by Leeds University.

George Hunter was 85 and ‘‘quite deaf’’ when Liddle requested a one-on-one interview that year. Two diaries describing his war experiences from 1915 and 1917 were handed over.

Repeated calls for the material to be repatriated and cared for in New Zealand museums have previously been refused.

Eight years after Liddle’s visit, the Ministry of Defence began investigating how he had managed to take the historical treasures out of the country.

The then secretary of defence was told to investigate the matter and attempt to have the diaries, or at least copies of them, returned to New Zealand.

But that never happened and

The Ministry for Culture and Heritage has confirmed three of the diaries held in the Liddle Collection at Leeds University in Britain will be returned before the end of the year.

the trail eventually went cold. By 2009, in the absence of objective evidence, Hunter’s was the only diary to return.

Left: Hartley Palmer, who landed at Gallipoli on Anzac Day. His diary will return to New Zealand after he and his family continued the fight for it for more than 40 years. Right: Henry George Hunter was a soldier in World War I. His two war diaries were returned from Leeds University in 2009.

Henry George Hunter’s two war diaries were returned from Leeds University in Britain.